Learning Approach, Reflective Thinking and Academic Performance of Real Estate Students

1. Learning Approach, Reflective Thinking and Academic Performance of Real Estate Students Abdul - Rasheed Amidu School of Property, Construction & Planning Birmingham city University

2. Most desirable in higher education Learning approaches… • Surface • Deep • Strategic Marton & Saljo (1976) Entwistle & Richardson (1983)

3. Stages of reflective thinking… Kember et al (2000)

4. Research Questions… • What learning approach and stages of reflective thinking do real estate students adopt in their academic learning • What effects do the learning approach and reflective thinking practice have on academic performance of real estate students • How does real estate student learning approach influence their reflective practice in academic learning

5. Research methods… • Participants – 40 Real Estate students in a UK University • Variables & measurement instrument • Learning approach (R-SPQ-2F developed by Biggs et al. 2001) • Reflective thinking practice (RTQ developed by Kember et al. 2000) • Academic performance – overall mark in property valuation module • Data analysis – correlation matrix

6. Results…

7. Results…

8. Results cont.… Expected results • Students that adopted surface approach and habitual action to learning tend to have lower academic performance • Reflection and critical reflection are determined by deep approach to learning while

9. Results cont.… Surprise result • Students who are critical and reflective are not necessarily rewarded in terms of marks

10. Tentative conclusions • The use of RTQ in real estate subject domain is questionable • Possible influence of “noise” factors not been accounted in this study • i.e. students can do well in some modules but not in others • Appropriateness of assessment criteria

11. Thanks for listening! Abdul - Rasheed Amidu Abdul-rasheed.amidu@bcu.ac.uk Your Questions and Reflections?